Dr. Rochelle Walensky has announced that she is stepping down as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a position she’s held since the beginning of President Biden’s term in 2021.
The White House announced her resignation in a statement May 5. The CDC said in a statement that her last day will be at the end of June.
“The end of the COVID-19 public health emergency marks a tremendous transition for our country, for public health, and in my tenure as CDC director,” Walensky wrote in a letter to President Biden, released by the CDC.
Walensky announced the resignation on the same day the World Health Organization said COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency. And the Biden Administration plans to end the COVID-19 public health emergency May 11.
Walensky’s successor has not yet been announced.
This change at the CDC comes days after a shooting in midtown Atlanta, where the agency is located. The shooting left a CDC employee named Amy St. Pierre, dead.